Grant Prater currently serves as the Director of Bands at Walled Lake Central High School and Co-Director of the Walled Lake Marching Band in Commerce Township, Michigan. Grant previously worked with the University of Toledo athletic bands and concert bands as the sole Graduate Teaching Associate and Assistant Varsity Band Director. There he completed his Master of Music Education degree with Wind Conducting Emphasis and actively conducted research in a wide range of areas including focuses on curriculum development, expressive conducting, marching band fundamentals, identity and sexuality for music educators, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in music education. Grant has taught high brass and marching to the students of Piqua HS (OH), Monroe HS (MI), East Kentwood HS (MI), and Zeeland HS (MI). In 2023, Grant served as the Assistant Marching Band Director for Monroe High School.

Studying areas of musicology and composition under Paul Schoenfeld, he received his bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Michigan in 2021. His awards include a President’s Volunteer Service Award from former President Barack Obama in 2015 and a Prudential Spirit of Community Award Distinguished Finalist for the state of Michigan.

He has presented at the 2022 OMEA Professional Development Conference Graduate Research Roundtable, the 2023 Professionalism in Music Education Conference at Central Michigan University, and the 2024 OMEA Professional Development Conference.

In his free time, Grant loves long distance running, eating out, spending time with his friends, and visiting his family (especially his Bernese Mountain Dog Winston) in Monroe, Michigan where he is originally from.